tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post2160456959874276021..comments2020-06-05T21:24:36.630+08:00Comments on Awakening to Reality: Reflection and Presence: The Dialectic of AwakeningSohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16416159880942160813noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3225985453951330898.post-35616340504328943412016-10-10T19:27:30.282+08:002016-10-10T19:27:30.282+08:00A lot of good points from Dr. Welwood. However, I ...A lot of good points from Dr. Welwood. However, I wish he would have been more up-front and clear about the importance of contemplating dependent origination (D.O.). Nothing has been as helpful to me as that. Nothing has solidified what reality is (no self) vs. what illusion is (self) more than that. <br /><br />Without understanding that everything happens due to conditions, as a starting point, it&#39;s a bunch of spiritual mumbo jumbo to most folks (even tho they might have some faith in it). Maybe he mentioned that somewhere, but it seems his last stage was &quot;you become the mirror&quot; aka you become the awareness, which seems to me like he still isn&#39;t getting Anatta or no self, the realization where everything is understood to always have been actually self-known &amp; disjoint. <br /><br />I agree that psychotherapy (in various forms) can be very beneficial, but if someone had to choose between, say, living somewhere where they had access to a psychotherapist, and living somewhere where they could just meditate all day every day, like a monastery, the latter to me would be a far more valuable option in terms of ultimate liberation. You can become your own therapist after a while... you kind of start to &quot;get&quot; what the therapist would say, so you don&#39;t need them there. And ultimately you don&#39;t need yourself there in their place either. TAFKA JESTDRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02262910815138538454noreply@blogger.com